In Their Secret Garden
by lsd3
Summary: Because in their secret garden plants aren't the only thing that can grow. Love can too. [it's never easy saying goodbye, but it's much easier when we can say goodbye together.]


Okay, this idea came to be from two songs. "The Lucky One" by Au Revoir Simmone and "Somewhere Only We Know" by Keane.

Yes, yes I know. Sora is a bit OOC and his relationship with Kairi in this fanfiction is a bit different, but as much as I love their relationship in Kingdom Hearts, I also think it's a little cliché…although you might think it's a little cliché in my story too. Oh well! On with the story!

BY THE WAY…Kairi and Sora are about twenty. So yeah, they're a bit older in my fanfiction. And Sakura and Syaoran are from Tsubasa. I don't really think Sakura and Syaoran are like Sora and Kairi, but uhh…I couldn't think of anyone else really.

Garden  
Because in their secret garden, plants aren't the only thing that grows. Love can too.

"Shh!" Kairi glares in his direction, but he can barely see anything in the dark forest. Only the moonlight serves as his guide. Along with Kairi's flashlight, but she's adamant on turning it off every ten seconds, so they don't get caught. But he has to admit the way the moonlight reflects off her skin makes her almost look like an angel. _Almost._ He swears he can see every twinkling star reflected off her violet blue eyes and to be quite honest, he thinks the stars look better from her eyes than from the sky.

"It's not my fault, Kairi!" His feet crunch against another branch and he receives another glare from Kairi. Not that he cares.

"Don't wear huge shoes next time, Sora!" She commands.

"_If_ there's a next time."

"Right, because next time I won't invite you," She chuckles at her own joke and he rolls his big cerulean blue eyes.

"That's okay. Next time I'll invite_ another _girl," He's smirking yet again, "We'd do things you probably couldn't even _dream_ of…" Sora trails off.

"Sora, your mom doesn't count," Kairi teases.

"Hey! I resent that!"

"I'm just saying that she doesn't cou—"

"Shut up—!"

Kairi makes a loud, "hmph" noise.

"—_sweetie_?"

She decides that she rather not respond to that anyways. So she listens to the wind chimes from nearby houses as they knock each other back and forth. If stars could make sounds, she imagined they'd sound just like that. A glitter and a melodic cling. It seemed to go perfect together...

"Just like you and me, Kai!"

She didn't really notice that he was still talking, but she nodded her head anyways and made some grunt of acknowledgment.

"They were like us when we were young, right?" Sora repeats himself.

"Huh? Who?" Kairi asks in confusion.

"Man, Kai, would it kill you to pay attention once in a while," Sora laughs and Kairi rolls her violet-blue eyes. Sora won't admit it out loud, but he likes to get on her nerves sometimes just to see those beautiful eyes roll cause then she showers him with more attention when she argues back.

"Sorry…uhh…what?" Kairi repeats her question.

"You remember those kids back at the Destiny Orphanage?"

"Ohh…Sakura and Syaoran?" Kairi asks. "Hey! Are you comparing us to a bunch of four year olds?

Sora chooses to ignore her last statement and continues on with his new revelation, "Don't they sorta remind you of us?" Sora wonders, "I mean Syaoran is pretty similar to me and Sakura is pretty similar to you. Don't ya think?"

"Not…really…"

"What?!" Sora exclaims with frustration, "Did you know they have their own secret place too? They've got cave paintings in there too! Just like us!"

"Do they now?" Kairi mocks interest, "Wow. We have a lot in common with cavemen don't you think?"

"I'm going to choose to ignore that," Sora states simply, "Anyways. Sakura and Syaoran are best friends. They're really cute huh?"

"Yeah, I have to admit they were pretty adorable four year olds," Kairi sighs.

"You know, Syaoran annoys Sakura just like the way I used to annoy you."

"I'm glad you've finally admitted that you're annoying."

"Man, Kai. Ever heard of being civil?"

"Oh wow, I didn't know you knew such big words, Sora."

"My point exactly."

"That you have a small vocabulary?"

"Oh for the love of god…"

"Okay, okay sorry, I'll be civil."

They continue walking and she wants him to stop talking so that they'll get there faster. She wants to know why he randomly invited her back to the garden, after so many years. So she walks even faster. They're so close. _So close_.

She doesn't want to ask…not yet…but she knows that if she doesn't ask now, she'll be causing more pain later.

"S—Sora…" Kairi stammers a bit tentatively. Her lips are quivering just a bit and bouncing along her smooth teeth, "Why…why are we going to the garden tonight?"

Sora groans in frustration and his keyblade whirls out in reflex. "Stupid thing." He mutters to himself. "Causes me so much freakin' trouble." And then in a flash it disappears.

"Gees, it's just a question," Kairi states defiantly.

"What? We're not allowed to go to the garden at untimely hours anymore?" Sora counters back in a defensive tone. And he's so annoyed at the damn crickets. They won't stop chirping…

"No, it's just that…"

He doesn't want her to say it out loud and she doesn't want to acknowledge that her worst fears are coming true.

"Well…I know we used to go to the garden every year back when we were kids, but we haven't been to the garden in a while. You know, with you saving the world twice and all. The last time we went to the garden was over two years when you had to save the world _again_ and not come back for over two years…"

He doesn't respond.

"Sora?"

"We're almost at the garden," He states tonelessly and for once he's glad the stupid crickets are filling in for the silence.

She's scared shitless now.

From then on, it's a silent walk. It's only one minute of silence, but it feels like eternity. Kairi feels the flutter of nervousness in her stomach. The butterflies are fluttering around in her stomach and eating away at what they can. Has Kairi ever mentioned that she absolutely despises butterflies?

Finally they arrive at their garden. It's locked and they forgot the key (well they always do), so as usual Sora lifts Kairi up and she clambers over the fence. Sora follows suit and, as usual, falls on his face and, as usual, Kairi laughs at him for ten minutes straight.

She has to admit, when she first saw the garden she fell in love with it. It was an abandoned and dead garden, but she still saw the beauty in it. And ever since then she kept going back and trying to revive it. At first she'd go back daily, but after a while she started to go back weekly and the next thing she knew she had herself a healthy garden. Sora would help all the time and he'd usually go with her.

There was a tiny stone walkway with arches above it, which led to the garden. A tiny lake at the center of the garden reflected the skies and a bridge floated across the lake. There was a beautiful cherry blossom tree over hanging on one side that swished every time the wind blew and almost kissed the lake and the skies at the same time.

Her favorite part about coming at night was seeing the reflection. The way the whole garden looked through the lake. It was a perfectly mirror image and sometimes when Sora stood by, she saw two Soras (even though she doesn't want to admit that seeing two Soras is absolutely amazing).

"Sooo…" Sora trails off, "What do you want to d—"

"Let's go skinny dipping," She blurts out.

"Wha—what?" Sora can barely form a sentence. "Did you just—uhh? I mean…why?" _'Did she just say what I think she said?'_ His mouth is touching the floor, and Sora's pretty sure the grass doesn't taste good.

"Well…uhh…it was one of your err…weird lifetime goals you wanted to achieve right? You had five things you wanted to do before you died and skinny dipping was one of them…"

"Right." And he knows that _she knows_ the truth. Well at least the truth is finally out there, but just hasn't been said yet.

"I…I forgot the rest of the things on your list…" Kairi whispers a little disappointedly.

"Oh. Well most of them I've achieved already. Except two. Well, one's about to be achieved now."

"Well, what are they?"

"Well, the first one was to see all kinds of worlds, which I've done already. The second one was to do something noble or important, like saving the world? Once again, I've done that. The third thing was to always be best friends with you. Obviously we're still best frie—"

"That's very subjective…" Kairi interrupts and begins to laugh.

Sora gently shoves at her shoulder and continues, "Number four was of course to go skinny dipping, which sounds kinda stupid out of everything on my list."

Kairi stares at Sora apprehensively.

"What?"

"What do you mean, what?" Kairi glares, "What's number five?"

"Oh. Number Five is unachievable at this point in my life. Kinda stupid also."

"Tell me."

"Well…" Sora coughs a little too loud, "It's…uhh…to-fall-in-love-with-someone-and-have-the-best-time-of-my-life…with them."

Kairi's a little shocked. Sora? Falling in love? It all seems so surreal. They couldn't have possibly gotten old in these past few minutes. Why, just ten minutes ago they were bantering like ten year olds, and now they're talking about love as if they're twenty years old…

Which they _are._

"We're achieving all of your goals tonight," Kairi states rather flatly, "I mean—" She stops short and blushes a bit, "_Most_ of your goals tonight…"

"Uh Kai…we don't have to uhh…you know, go skinny dipping."

"Yes, we do," Kairi argues.

"No we don't!"

"Well, I guess I'll have to do it by myself then."

Sora gulps extremely loudly as Kairi pulls her shorts off rather abruptly. The muscles in his arm tense a bit.

"Kai, seriously…uhh…" He can't manage to say anything _right_. He should stop her, he knows he should, but he can't and he's finding it the most frustrating thing ever.

"You can turn around if you feel really uncomfortable," Kairi suggests nonchalantly as she peels off her t-shirt.

"Kai! You're—you're not serious! I mean…the normal-Kai would never do anything like this!"

"We're not normal people and we're not under normal circumstances…"

_'She…knows…_' Sora thinks to himself.

"You have less than three seconds before I take off all my underwear."

And just like that Sora flips in the other direction. "Kai! I can't have an argument with you if I'm not facing you!"

"Which is all the more better because I've already won."

Sora hears a splash and is sort of relieved that Kairi is already in the mini lake. In all her naked glory. _Naked._

Sora's hands tighten into a fist.

"We can't do this!" Sora shouts and turns around. He's so thankful that the only part of Kairi that isn't submerged under water is her head.

"It's not _that_ big of a deal," Kairi counters back defensively.

"Man, how many friends do you see naked every day?" Sora retorts angrily.

"Well, if you really don't want to achieve all your goals soon—"

"Just shut up and hold your horses, my pants are coming off. Sheesh."

Kairi just stares at him wide-eyed. Maybe, it just occurred to her the whole concept of being naked and the fact that Sora was _male._

"Hey! This ain't a free show! I gave you the same respect when you were taking off your clothes!" Sora shouts, "I know I'm attractive and all—"

"You wish, Sora!" Kairi yells as she turns around and faces the moon. "The moon is a much more better sight than you."

"Keep telling yourself that!"

There's an awkward silence as Kairi listens to Sora's clothes drop on the grass with a soft _woosh_.

"Uhh…Kai?" Sora calls.

"Yes?"

"Are you…uh su—"

"Sora, I said I was okay with it! Now hurry up before I jump out of here and get you!" Kairi scolds. Sora knows not to argue with Kairi so he jumps into the lake with her and once he's mostly submerged in the lake, he realizes that he can't stop laughing.

He's laughing and smiling and he feels like he's on fifty drugs at once, but he doesn't care. For once, he doesn't care about _anything_, well, except Kairi.

And his laugh is contagious and Kairi has always had a weak immune system, so she's laughing too. She's laughing and smiling and she too feels like she's on fifty drugs. Her mind is spinning…_oh_…Sora's spinning her. He picks her up and he doesn't care that she's naked, after all, when they were babies they've seen each other naked plenty of times.

It's strange, how such awkward circumstances can still be so normal for them.

So, they swim around in the lake and Kairi decides to begin a game of tag. She runs away from Sora, and Sora (_well, being typical Sora_) decides to chase after her. They swim in circles around and around, in their garden, under the black sky.

He launches at her. A surprise attack. And she doesn't expect it. He jumps on her and pulls her under water. And she's a bit shocked at first because it's skin on skin contact. She can feel absolutely _everything._ And, you know what, she doesn't mind. She can't stop laughing and she pulls him closer.

This time he's shocked. But he's having too much fun so he doesn't have time to think about anything. He tickles her sides and she squirms under water and laughs until she realizes she needs oxygen. They both splash out of the black lake.

Suddenly, their contagious high begins to die down. They're calmer now and they're panting. He takes her hand and leads her out of the lake so they can put their clothes back on, but she doesn't put her clothes on at first. He stares at her a bit and he wants to punch himself for doing something like that. They're best friends after all! But hey! He's a male!

She's beautiful. He dreams to himself. She's absolutely gorgeous. The way the moonlight reflects off her pale skin and the way the shadows hide behind her face is _flawless_.

And it's then that he realizes it. It hits him like lightning. Right there. In their secret garden under the black sky, he realizes that his fifth goal has always been achieved. He's in love with_Kairi._

"Why are you giving me a funny look? Do you think I'm _that_ unattractive when I'm naked?"

He shakes his head and wakes up from his revelation.

"N—no…uhh…you…you…nah…" Sora stammers. He doesn't understand what's wrong. _Okay_, so he just found out he's been in love with his best friend. No big deal.

Except, the fact that she's naked and for nearly 15 years he _finally_ realizes why his heart beats a little faster when she's around.

Man, she was right. He _is_ slow.

"What's wrong?" Kairi asks and she's not even a bit self conscience to the fact that she's _not wearing clothes!_

"You…why aren't you…putting clothes on?" Sora blurts out and his voice is shaking a bit.

"Are you…uncomfortable?" She has a smirk on her face and he can tell she's holding in a lot of laughter.

"Am…not…" Sora mutters.

"So you think I look revolting?"

"I think you're going to make me…" Sora begins and Kairi gets the idea. She grabs Sora's clothes and throws it to his face. She grabs her own clothes, but only puts on her bra and underwear. Sora decides on only putting on his boxers. _After all_, if she can prance around in her underwear. So can he!

Kairi lies on the grass and closes her eyes. Sora decides it's the perfect time to tell her _the truth_.

"Kai…? I have something to say…" Sora begins.

"Not now Sora. It's too perfect here. I don't want to start crying yet."

"I'll lose my nerve later. Come on," Sora begs and he leans over her.

She's a little confused. Since when did Sora get so touchy?

"_Fine…"_ She has to admit his close proximity might've swayed her decision.

"Kai…" Sora can feel his throat constricting, "I'm going again. King Mickey's sent me another letter. This time I might not come back for _years_. I might not even come back _at all_…"

Kairi has already been bracing herself for the pain. The stupid pain.

"I have to go. You know that, right? People are dying and I need to stop another crazy psycho from taking over the universe and possibly killing everyone," Sora states rather bluntly, "I don't want to go, but I have to…"

"Let me come with you," Kairi demands, "Let me come with you!" Her voice is desperate. Her eyes are filled with tears. Her throat is moist. And worst of all her heart is broken because her friend might die out there.

"No! Of course _not!_ You could…you know…die out there!" Sora shouts back.

Kairi sits up now and is at equal level with Sora.

"If you can die. _I can die_," Kairi yells and she comes closer.

"You're not going!"

"It doesn't matter! I'll go no matter what you say. I'll run into the middle of a damn battle field if it's what it takes! I'll find my own gummi ship and stalk you! I've got a keyblade too you know. _I_can make a difference too. _I_ can save the world too. _I CAN'T LET YOU DI—mmph!"_

Her words are cut off as he leans in and kisses her. He doesn't know what the hell possessed him to do something so rash. He just remembered thinking her lips looked so luscious and she wouldn't_shut up_. He gives her _some_credit though. Her lips taste so much better than he could've _ever imagined._

She's confused at first. He's _kissing_ her. Best friends don't do that. And she knows she _should_ pull away, but she can't because his arms are all over her and her arms are locked on his neck like a death grip. She's practically breathing him in. This is the last time she might ever hold him. She doesn't care if they're supposed to be best friends.

And hell, maybe they aren't supposed to be best friends.

She's kind of attracted to the idea that maybe they could be more than friends. Now, _that_ surprises her. She licks her lips over and he takes that as a signal to kiss her harder. Suddenly it's intense.

They break apart, panting.

"T—tell me you feel something. Tell me it's there. Somewhere," Sora demands, "Tell me I'm not the only one who feels it."

"I don't think you are…" Kairi whispers, "I feel it too."

"Do you think it's love?"

"I—I've never been in love before."

"I think it is…"

"But, how do you know?"

"Only one way to find out."

Sora pushes her down on the grass and rolls on top of her. She's actually _laughing_. Maybe if Sora was some _other_ guy, she'd push him off. But she's comfortable. She's _okay_with it. She's _actually_ okay.

Kairi was never one to let the male take the lead so she pushes Sora off, pushes him on his back, and rolls on top of him. Sora wants to take control again, but decides to let Kairi hold the reigns this time.

After a few minutes they break apart again.

"I'm sure it's love," Sora teases.

"I—I…it could be, but…but…" Kairi trails off.

"But you can't love a man who's a walking target for death." Sora's head drops in disappointment.

"Actually…" Kairi considers, "I can…"

Sora's eyes light up.

"I'm going with you okay? And you're not going to die out there because I know you're stronger than that. If you keep me alive, I'll keep you alive. If you're dead, I'm dead. Got it?"

"B—but!"

"We'll come back here. Together. Who knows? Maybe we'll be married. Maybe our kids can grow up near here. Near this garden. Okay?"

There's a silence as Sora considers this possibility. Here he is, with the woman he loves. They're not normal people and they're most certainly not under normal circumstances. They can _die_out there.

But at least they'd die together.

"_Promise_."

And so he seals it with a kiss, in their secret garden, under the black sky.

THE END.

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Okay, so I was thinking that at the end they'd come back to the garden dead, but I wanted to write a sad ending with a happy tone to it. Contradictory? Yeah, I know.

Anyways, I'm sorry to all my fans who liked Can't Live With You, Can't Live Without You. To be quite honest, I don't know how progress is doing. The story is really lacking inspiration especially since there haven't been any new kingdom hearts games.

Give me feedback. You like? I know my writing style is a lot different. For the good or worse? You tell me.

Sorry, I didn't really proofread it that well. I don't even know if I wrote it that well. I feel so nervous since I haven't posted stuff in so long!

x3,  
LJ.


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